Trees by a Lake 1910

Childe Hassam made these Trees by a Lake with watercolor, and you can really see the watercolor at work here. What would it have been like to stand where Hassam stood? I can just imagine him poised with his brush, trying to capture the scene before him. What I love about this painting is its immediacy. It’s not overworked, but it still has a sense of depth. Look at how he's used quick dabs and strokes of paint to create the reflections on the water. I can feel the way he's moving his wrist, flicking the brush to create those textures. It really makes the painting come alive. And that color palette – the blues and greens. It’s almost like a monochrome, but with subtle shifts in tone. It's like he's really trying to capture the way light filters through the trees.